OStatic

Every year or two, some hardware component comes down the line that truly takes my breath away. On the past few occasions, these bits of circuitry have all used open source software in some capacity, though whether that's due to my tendency to notice such things, or a measurable increase in hardware developments that feature open source technology is uncertain.

TMCnet introduced me to this year's take your breath away device, the Marvell SheevaPlug. This plug computer (it's designed to hang comfortably from a household wall socket) features a 1.22 GHz Kirkwood (Sheeva-based) processor, 512 MB DRAM, and a Gigabit ethernet connection. In addition to its onboard 512 MB Flash storage, the plug has a USB port for external storage. The hardware, the multiple Linux distributions it currently supports, and the API framework (called Raindrop ) that is currently being developed for running third party applications -- are all open source.

Why? Because, as Marvell's product manager, Raja Mukhopadhyay told TMCnet, ...[open source] is what we see going forward.

Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, and the analysts at RedMonk presented the results of a recent survey conducted on Ubuntu's use in server deployments. Nearly 7,000 people (representing the same number of organizations) participated in the survey, which was promoted on Ubuntu's web site and several Linux server-specific forums.

Canonical's marketing head, Gerry Carr, says that the survey is essential reading for any organization using (or considering using) Ubuntu's Server Edition. After taking a closer look at the survey, I'd recommend it to anyone interested in current server technologies, or where the server market is headed -- even if Ubuntu Server isn't part of the equation.